Chichester paving stones cause another fall

Sandra Hoadley by the broken drain cover Picture by Louise Adams

A WOMAN fears she may never regain full use of her arm after falling over in the city centre.

Sandra Hoadley was walking down St Martin’s Street behind Marks and Spencer’s when she tripped on a drain cover and fractured her arm.

This was almost seven weeks ago and she said she was still in constant pain and had not had a proper night’s sleep since the fall.

What’s more, she said West Sussex County Council’s highways department said there was nothing they could do about the drain cover, because it was privately owned.

“It is their pavement. They have got to sort things out,” she said.

This comes almost exactly a year after a pensioner called for improvements to the city’s pavements after being left with ‘catastrophic’ shoulder injuries.

Marie Allam, 76, labelled the state of the city’s pavements ‘appalling’ after falling in Northgate, Chichester, last year.

She told the Observer her doctor said she might never be able to lift her arm above her head again, and she had to have surgery.

Ms Hoadley is worried she might end up with the same fate, and said she has been in ‘constant agony’ since the fall on February 7.

“I’ve fractured the top of my right arm in several places,” she said.

“They don’t know if I will have full use of this arm again.”

She said the accident meant she had to take two weeks off of work and she was working on reduced hours.

She contacted a solicitor to inquire about compensation but as she had no witnesses there is nothing they can do.

“Four of five people came running over when it happened. I was so shaken up,” she said.

She asked if anyone witnessed the fall on Friday, February 7, at around 4pm, to get in touch with the Observer.

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said: “The issue is whether we have been negligent or in breach of our statutory duty to maintain the highway which we would consider once we have all the facts to hand.”

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